Effect of Nafion loading and the novel flow field designs on Innovative anode electrocatalyst for improved DMFCs performance

Abstract Efficiency of a Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) not just merely depends on the catalyst, but also on the flow channels, physical/electrochemical kinetics, Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) preparation and other operating parameters. This article is focused on the influence of novel flow field design and the effect of Nafion loading during MEA preparation on the performance of DMFC. A novel Pt/NiTiO3 was used as the anode electrocatalyst in the DMFC. The results show a 27.8 % & 5.1 % increment in cell performance due to changes in Nafion loading and flow field designs, respectively. A Nafion loading of 0.5mg/cm2 and the sinuous flow field gave the highest performance. Thus, Pt-NiTiO3/C performed to be an encouraging anode catalyst with the new sinuous flow field.